Light Field Photography: Lytro

I came across this camera / concept / idea / future-of-memory-in-picture-capturing-as-we-know-it a couple of weeks ago when my brother posted it on his plurk timeline. I've been meaning to write about it for awhile but, as always, life has a way of getting in the way.

Ok, for now there is no commercially available camera. But you can reserve yourself one. Just some sample photos in their gallery, several updates on their blog, and links hyping-up and explaining the science behind the concept, behind Lytro.

The site talks about how the camera is able to capture the "light field" which is a record of the amount of light that's bouncing off everything in the picture in every derection, how intense the light is, color etc... and gives you the ability to shoot first and focus later. Imagine that. Truly idiot proof.

When this technology will actually be available for the average person is anyone's guess. For now only lucky testers have been given access to the tech and their photos have been populating the gallery. Check them out.

The skeptic in me is saying "these photos could just be a composite of two photos shot in quick succession with two different focus points" and "could just be a super duper small aperture opening shot". Perhaps. The part of me that's hoping for something that can actually do all this in something that fits inside your shirt pocket is putting his fingers in his ears and going "nanananananana".

Here's hoping for the best. Good luck to the people at Lytro. Please let me know when my camera's ready. Thanks.

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